APU Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Club Shines at ETH Seoul 2023

Winning best governance decentralised app at one of the most popular blockchain events in Asia.

In an impressive display of skill and innovation, the Asia Pacific University Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Club (APUBCC) made its mark at ETH Seoul 2023, one of Asia's most prestigious blockchain events which was held from June 2 to 4, with its winning solution garnering recognition for its inventive approach to governance within the blockchain ecosystem.

Full of confidence in the strength of the team, APU Chief Innovation and Enterprise Officer, Professor Dr. Vinesh Thiruchelvam (left) sent off Team alphaQuality to Seoul, South Korea for the Ethereum blockchain hackathon at ETH Seoul 2023 in early June. Its members consist of Brian Joseph Keyrupan (second from left onwards), Viman Vinesh, Vincent Owen Toniwan, Yudhishthra Sugumaran (Team Lead), and Gavin Owen Susanto.

The club's five talented members formed Team alphaQuality, representing Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) and emerged victorious as the Best Governance App Winner in the Ethereum blockchain hackathon.

As the only team representing a Malaysian university, alphaQuality's achievement reflects the exceptional talent nurtured at APU. The esteemed accolade earned the team a highly coveted prize of USD 3,000, equivalent to approximately RM14,000.

Team alphaQuality celebrates its victory of winning the Best Governance App award at ETH Seoul 2023. In this picture, the team poses with some representatives from Wordcoin by holding the mock cash prize of USD 3000.

With participation from 48 teams comprising 250 Ethereum blockchain hackers hailing from 30 different countries, their remarkable feat at this event not only brings pride to APU and Malaysia but also highlights the university's commitment to nurturing talented individuals in this field.

Mentored by APU Chief Innovation and Enterprise Officer, Professor Dr. Vinesh Thiruchelvam, the team comprised its Lead Yudhishthra Sugumaran, a student in BSc (Hons) in Computer Science (Cyber Security); Vincent Owen Toniwan and Brian Joseph Keyrupan, both study a BSc (Hons) in Software Engineering degree; Gavin Owen Susanto, a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science with Specialism in Data Analytics student; and Viman Vinesh who studies a Foundation in Business programme.

On their winning project, a decentralised application (DApp) named Trustless Badge Membership Protocol, Yudhishthra expounded, “It is a system that allows users to suggest rules for badges (which is like virtual awards) through a voting process.

“By using the techniques of making the users publicly commit to fulfilling the requirements of the proposed badge rules, unique badges will be created. These badges can be used in certain apps to give special benefits to the people who have them.

“We were excited and challenged to compete and develop in this competition and hone our skills. Prof. Dr. Vinesh supported us on this hackathon and gave us directions and suggestions from past offline hackathons in that past teams had competed to prepare us for the hackathon.

As Prof. Vinesh lauded, “This achievement has solidified APU's strength in producing talents skilled in emerging technologies applications such as Blockchain Development.”

Mr. Suresh Naidu Sadasivan, the APUBCC consultant, affirmed, “This victory will help to raise the profile of APU and attract even more talented students from around the world. It will also help to inspire our current students to continue to strive for excellence. I am confident that this achievement will help to train more similar talents in the future at APU.”

Yudhishthra, who is also APUBCC Vice President said, “Given that the blockchain space is still new and constantly growing with new ideas and innovations every day, it can be challenging to keep up with these trends.

“Coping with these trends under pressure is a surefire way to learn a lot, network with brilliant people, and improve your perspective which can make you a stand-out candidate from an employer’s perspective.

“It is, for this reason, I believe that more APU students should actively take part in these types of hackathons, both online or physical, and grab every opportunity they can,” he concluded.

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What is the hackathon at ETH Seoul 2023?

Organised by Kryptoseoul and Dystopia Labs, ETH Seoul 2023, which was held from June 2 to 4, in the heart of Seoul at the iconic Lotte World Tower, stood as a beacon of excellence in the blockchain industry. The event attracted developers, entrepreneurs, investors, and stakeholders from around the globe for networking and knowledge-sharing, providing participants with valuable insights into the Ethereum ecosystem and its related technologies.

ETH Seoul is a conference that usually features talks and presentations from experts in blockchain and cryptocurrency, as well as workshops, hackathons, and networking events. According to alphaQuality Team Lead, the hackathon was an open-ended competition where participants can build any DApps.

“We were given only three days to develop the product and pitch it to organisers and sponsors on the last day. Contestants have the choice of integrating sponsor technologies as part of their technology stack. For the solution we built, the governance element we had was among the best because of the bigger use case involved,” said Yudhishthra.

What were Team alphaQuality’s winning factors?

APU programme module’s strength in terms of web development fundamentals and also the community and knowledge strength of the APUBCC were among the few main success factors that brought Team alphaQuality to the top.

According to the team, the web development fundamentals that were taught provided a good starting point for them to code the front end of the product and improve iteratively from their research. Moreover, the growing blockchain community at APU helped provide the right exposure and environment for the members to ask questions and get technical support. It also helped guide what to focus more on when building the product, to figure out what problems have not been solved yet in the blockchain space.

At BUIDL Asia 2023, a 2-day technical blockchain conference hosted by KryptoSeoul in Seoul, South Korea, Team alphaQuality of APU got an opportunity to meet with a few key persons in the blockchain space. In this picture, they were meeting Annee Park, an event lead from Aleo, the world's leading developer platform for enabling absolute privacy on blockchains.

Exposures gained in Seoul

Right after ETH Seoul, BUIDL Asia 2023, a 2-day technical blockchain conference hosted by KryptoSeoul took place, the team hence got an opportunity to meet a few key persons in the blockchain space. These prominent figures they met included Maggie Xiao from ETHGlobal, Annee Park from Aleo, and Devin Lamoureux from Gnosis Chain. “They knew that all of us were from APU. They were particularly interested in partnering with APUBCC to bring onboard more opportunities for students and support the community to achieve greater things,” enthused the team lead.